Rescued Haitian Boy Still Critical

With His Son In A Coma, Benour Garsonville Told About The Conditions That Forced Him To Flee.

May 8, 1994|By Luz Villarreal of The Sentinel Staff

As 4-year-old Haitian refugee Shara Garsonville lay in a comatose state at an Orlando hospital Saturday, his father pleaded to the American government for help in restoring peace to his island nation.

''We need help with our situation,'' Benour Garsonville said during a press conference at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children & Women. ''If President (Jean-Bertrand) Aristide was in power there, no one would want to leave.''

Garsonville, his son, and 14 other Haitians were rescued from a sailboat about 70 miles east of Daytona Beach Thursday night after 10 days at sea. They ran out of food and water after four days and began drinking seawater.

Shara, the youngest on board, was unconscious when Coast Guard officials intercepted the boat.

The boy remained in critical but stable condition at the hospital's intensive care unit.

''He's taken in too much saltwater,'' hospital spokesman Joe Brown said. ''It throws the chemistry out of balance. To off-set that salt content, doctors are administering large doses of fluids.''

Brown said doctors are encouraged but will not know anything more about Shara's condition for another three to four days.

''To say he's going to be totally recovered, that's asking for too much right now,'' said Brown, adding there could be neurological damage.

Garsonville, 23, said he felt he had no choice but to leave the island with his son.

The boy's mother was gunned down by the military last year while walking through the streets of Port-au-Prince.

''I was running for my life,'' Garsonville said. ''I was thinking about this for a long time. I've seen a lot of my friends dead. I was thinking, if I don't do this today, maybe tomorrow I won't be here.''

The other 14 refugees remain at sea aboard a Coast Guard cutter.

An official with the U.S. Border Patrol was flown to the cutter to question the Haitians.

The State Department will decide whether to grant political asylum, but it remained unclear Saturday how soon that will happen.